Decided I'd put the boat in the water and give her another try. Chose another tidal slough that I've had good luck on in the past and usually holds a good amount of teal and an occasional mallard or two.

Got to the boat launch at 0945 and grassed up the boat. Charlie again rode shotgun. We were in the water and on our way by 1000.

The slough connects at the boat launch to one of our main rivers. It meanders south for about a 3/4 mile before coming to a dead end. The southern half is where the birds typically congregate.

Today they were all sitting at the end of the slough in a small cove. Its a perfect situation to sneak on em because the cove is around the last bend to the right.

Approaching the bend, I glassed a few sittin on the east bank at the bend. I could also hear em all peeping around the corner. I hugged the west bank and started my scull from about 300 yards out. As soon as I rounded a buncha tules at the bend, I spotted about 15 sittin in the shallows on the shore 40 yards out. At 25 yards I sat up and sluiced the first. I followed and dropped two more. With Charlie retrieving one, I reloaded as five bufflehead spooked from the very back and came right over my head. I picked out the drake and dropped him. With a teal in his mouth he swam out and retrieved the buffie too. Apparently he didn't want me to be the only one who doubled. Unfortunately we only retrieved 3 of the 4. One crip swam hard for the tules and pulled a magic trick on us. We looked for 10 minutes and gave up. The teal were now scattered up and down the slough. We turn her around searched em out.About 500 yards up, we came across a group of five on the west bank. I started the scull about 200 yards out. I musta misjudged my distance to them. I sat up thinking I was 25 or so out. Turns out I was 40 out. Too late now. I fired twice and whiffed! Awwww!

Another 300 yards or so up the slough I spotted a single hen in the middle of the water. We sculled within 20 yards and sluiced her.

With four in the bag Charlie and I decided to start heading in. But in the past, I've always spooked birds outta the overgrown tree lined east bank on our paddle out.

We decided to scull the entire trip back along the east bank. After a few minutes, we kicked out 5 teal that I swear were roosting IN the tree. They had a jump on me but I was able to dump the last hen in the bunch.

A limit today was possible, but we lost one crip. Poor shooting contributed also. But it was a great hunt regardless. I got a scouting report from my huntin buddy/ coworker, who just happened to be working today. He spotted a buncha Cans, blues, ringers and buffies in our lagoons up north. Not sure I'm ready for an open water scull, but I'm sure as hell gonna try this Friday.

I'd love to see a video of this style of hunting. I'm trying to use my imagination. It seems like a really fun way to hunt. Great recap RB. Let us know how the open water skull goes.

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In a free society, it is not the obligation of the citizen to prove to the government that he is a good person. It is the obligation of the government to prove to the rest of the citizenry that the citizen is a bad person, with probable cause.

In a free society, it is not the obligation of the citizen to prove to the government that he is a good person. It is the obligation of the government to prove to the rest of the citizenry that the citizen is a bad person, with probable cause.

Good write-up, Red. Looks like a fun hunt. Same question some of the others posted, how do you stay hidden well enough not to spook the birds and paddle to within shooting range? That boat looks pretty sweet!

Locked&Loaded wrote:Good write-up, Red. Looks like a fun hunt. Same question some of the others posted, how do you stay hidden well enough not to spook the birds and paddle to within shooting range? That boat looks pretty sweet!

This is a photo from the link Vincent posted. This is pretty much how it's done. Check out the link. They do a good job of explaining the technique. Better than I could do

Redbeard wrote:"How can I justify sending him to practice, if he misses school?" she says.

There is more valuable life lessons learned in 4 or 5 hours on the water with your old man than in a week of school. I've pounded this into my wife's head enough that jr is borderline truant by the end of every school year

Redbeard wrote:"How can I justify sending him to practice, if he misses school?" she says.

There is more valuable life lessons learned in 4 or 5 hours on the water with your old man than in a week of school. I've pounded this into my wife's head enough that jr is borderline truant by the end of every school year

Oh man do I agree with ya. I'm still working on the wife. He's only missed maybe 4-5 days of school for huntin

Redbeard wrote:"How can I justify sending him to practice, if he misses school?" she says.

There is more valuable life lessons learned in 4 or 5 hours on the water with your old man than in a week of school. I've pounded this into my wife's head enough that jr is borderline truant by the end of every school year

Oh man do I agree with ya. I'm still working on the wife. He's only missed maybe 4-5 days of school for huntin

smart man not to push it to hard, you just got to keep dropping it into conversation until she thinks it's her idea for him to take off school for dad time

jehler wrote:[quote="Redbeard"]"How can I justify sending him to practice, if he misses school?" she says.

There is more valuable life lessons learned in 4 or 5 hours on the water with your old man than in a week of school. I've pounded this into my wife's head enough that jr is borderline truant by the end of every school year

Oh man do I agree with ya. I'm still working on the wife. He's only missed maybe 4-5 days of school for huntin

smart man not to push it to hard, you just got to keep dropping it into conversation until she thinks it's her idea for him to take off school for dad time[/quote]Regardless, I'll bet he's been in the field more this year than a lot of our members here. Hoping to have him out sculling this weekend. Charlie's gonna be jealous